Advertisement
UNI Hall of Fame inducts Panozzo, ‘77-78 wrestlers
by Gregory R. Norfleet · Sports · September 14, 2017


Joe Panozzo almost threw the letter away.


He thought it was sent to the wrong address, but he paused for a second look and opened it — an invitation to a ceremony inducting him and the rest of the 1977-78 University of Northern Iowa wrestling team into the 2017 UNI Athletics Hall of Fame.

When he called UNI, he even questioned the event organizer Samantha Koch: “I didn’t even wrestle in the nationals,” the 13-year West Branch resident said.

“So?” came the response from Koch, athletic development coordinator. “The whole team is invited.”

Panozzo accepted that answer. Even though the 190-pound-weight-class wrestler remembers winning just over half his matches, he could not argue with that. He was part of the Panther team that won the NCAA Division II national title under Head Coach Chuck Patten.

“I’m obviously thrilled,” Panozzo said. “Wow.”

Panozzo had been a junior on the team that year. He remembers another 190-pounder, Kirk Myers, with whom he sparred. Myers and he wrestled close to each other, yet as the season wore on Myers edged him out and went on to win a few national contests in his college career, including the 1978 NCAA national championship in that weight class.

“At the time, I really didn’t think about it,” he said, referring to the accomplishment that would earn the team a place in the Hall of Fame nearly 40 years later. “UNI was always getting second or third (as a team).”

Myers was one of three Panther champions, joining Gary Bentrim at 158 pounds and Keith Poolman at 167 pounds.

UNI earned seven place-winning spots in the tournament, according to Assistant Athletic Director Colin McDonough, as well as a 12-4 dual record and the North Central Conference Title.

UNI also invited the wrestling team and other Hall of Fame inductees to Saturday’s football game against Cal-Poly, honoring them during halftime.

Panozzo wrestled in high school in Rochelle, Ill., and said he wanted to wrestle in college. Western Illinois and Eastern Illinois both had wrestling programs, but neither took the sport as seriously as UNI.

“I went to high school where wrestling was really good and we’d get 1,100 to 1,200 in the crowd,” he said.

At the UNI-Dome, the wrestling fans numbered 15,000 to 16,000.

Panozzo remembers the Panthers, despite their lower division, wrestling during his freshman year, 1976, against the Iowa Hawkeyes at the Field House. UNI won, he recalls, edging Iowa by a few points.

UNI took the title during its last year in Division II. The next season, it stepped up to Division I, joining teams like the University of Iowa.

Panozzo said his ego “isn’t that big,” and he wants to keep the honor in perspective.

“It’s like the Cubs who didn’t dress (for the World Series),” he said. “They still got a ring.”

Panozzo said he had not talked about that season much in the last four decades, but he remembers the subject coming up when the West Branch Bears football team last earned a trip to the UNI-Dome. He and his father walked to the south end zone to look through the names and teams that made it into the Hall of Fame.

His father teased him by asking why he was not in the Hall of Fame.

Today, Panozzo has an answer: I am.